Knight Rider 2000
Knight Rider 2000 is a 1991 sequel movie to the television series Knight Rider. It is included in the Region 1, Region 2 and Region 4 versions of the Knight Rider Season One box set. The movie served as a pilot for a proposed new series, but despite high ratings, the plans fell through and were abandoned. Plot The story takes place in the year 2000 and set in San Antonio, Texas. (However, the city is never mentioned by name, though much of the movie was filmed there.) Handguns have been banned and law enforcement carry non-lethal ultra sound pistols, microwave "stun" guns. Criminals are sentenced to a high-tech cryonic suspension prison instead of conventional jail cells. On February 19. 2000, Thomas J. Watts, a former cop turned psychotic killer, has just been released from Quantum State Prison and assassinates the current mayor, Frank Cottam. Police officer Shawn McCormick confronts the masked Watts holding the Deputy-Mayor hostage at gunpoint. She shoot Watts, who is able to flee, the Deputy-Mayor being unharmed. McCormick finds the handgun used in the murder dropped in a bush. She hides the gun not knowing what to do. The city's new Mayor, the former Deputy-Mayor, Harold Abbey, demands the gunman be found, but his fellow councilmen reprimand him for his choice to disarm the police and setting up the meaningless cryo-prison where the inmates just "sleep away" their sentences and emerge the same person as they entered. The Foundation for Law and Government (FLAG) steps in with a possible solution to help the police force and unveils the Knight 4000, a prototype super car that will become the next generation of Knight Industries' super cars, which previously was the Knight 2000. With the vehicle, law enforcement will have an edge on heavily armed criminals and will be better able to apprehend them safely. The city's Police Commissioner Ruth Daniels adamantly argues the need for an independent law enforcement organization. Devon Miles and his partner, Russell Maddock, are green lighted on the idea, but the city wants to see a working prototype of the 4000 in 30 days. Devon informs Abbey the Knight 4000 is still in prototype form, and completion would take at least three months. The Abbey stands firm with his deadline. Maddock doesn't see a problem with the deadline, but Devon knows they will need help with an effective demonstration. He decides to bring in Michael Knight as the test driver. Shawn later gives the gun to her partner, Kurt Miller, not knowing what to do. Later, Watts strikes again, this time shooting Shawn in the head after she is ambushed by Watts and discovers that some of her fellow patrolmen Marla Hedges, and a few others are working with the assassin in a twisted conspiracy – to rearm the criminals so the city will have no choice but to give the police their "real" weapons back. Shawn survives the attack and is rushed to the hospital. There, doctors save her by installing a cybernetic microchip implant into her brain. She eventually recovers, but the vital details of the attack are gone and all that she remembers is that someone tried to kill her, but who or why elude her. Meanwhile, Devon visits Michael, who has been "retired" for the past ten years and living in seclusion near a mountain lake. Devon convinces him to join the project, but Michael is furious to learn KITT has been reduced to a pile of parts at Maddock's direction. Maddock sees no reason to restore the old K.I.T.T. because of his obsolete technology, and the Knight 4000 development already underway. He also disagrees with the idea to have Michael Knight brought back to the Foundation. Furious, Michael is ready to walk away, but later decides to rebuild K.I.T.T.'s A.I. unit, which he finds difficult since Maddock has sold most of K.I.T.T.'s cybernetic technology to medical research. Eventually, Michael is able to reactivate K.I.T.T.'s logic module and temporarily installs him in the dashboard of his 1957 Chevy Bel-Air. K.I.T.T. protests his vintage look, but it is the best Michael can do for him under the circumstances. While parked in the garage, K.I.T.T. tries to get to know the Knight 4000 (voiced by Argenziano for the time), but finds the vehicle is just as temperamental and arrogant as the man he's modeled after, Maddock. Elsewhere, Shawn quits the police force after she learns Daniels didn't want to authorize her brain chip implant, nor get involved in her case. She seeks employment with the Foundation where Michael learns one of K.I.T.T.'s missing cybernetic chips is now in her head. Because of this, K.I.T.T. is able to link up with the chip through physical contact and he is able to extract her missing memories. Shawn now remembers that Watts is the one who shot her and her fellow officers were with him when he did it — including her partner whom she had trusted implicitly. The plot thickens when Watts learns Shawn is still alive and involved in the new Foundation project and sends the crooked cops to eliminate her and Michael. The two are easily chased down by the police when they try to get away in K.I.T.T.'s classic car body which isn't the indestructible shell he once had. K.I.T.T. decides to evade capture by driving off a pier into the harbor where he quickly sinks to the bottom. Michael and Shawn are momentarily kept safe inside the "air tight" driving compartment but K.I.T.T. isn't so lucky as water seeps in and shorts out his circuitry. With Watts believing Michael and Shawn are dead, he captures Devon and uses mind scanning technology to discover what Devon knows. Afterward, he injects a lethal drug into an intravenous tube which kills Devon. Michael and Shawn eventually swim to safety and secretly return to the Foundation where they learn of Devon's fate. After his funeral, Abbey terminates FLAG's contract to Maddock's displeasure. With the Knight 4000's development complete, Michael quits. Maddock confronts Michael and receives a punch in his chin from Michael. Shawn later confronts Michael in an attempt to get him to return. Michael later returns, and secretly retrofits the Knight 4000 with K.I.T.T.'s A.I. (though, the AI is still called "KITT" because the KIFT was the previous AI ) and Maddock & Shawn find out after the retrofit is complete. KITT gets used to his new body and the vehicle's advanced features, such as a heads up virtual reality display in the windshield, an ultrasound gun, thermal generator, and arominometer to name a few. Michael and Shawn both go after Watts with a personal vendetta, Shawn with a deeper axe to grind. They follow Shawns old partner to a warehouse where the guns are stored. By altering Shawn's voice to resemble Watts', she arranges a meeting and gun transaction with her former partner. She confronts her partner, and before he can fully cooperate with FLAG's secret investigation, he is shot by Watts from a remote location. Before the shot KITT informs Michael of a sniper rifle sighting Shawn and her former partner. Michael arrives just in time to prevent Shawn from being hurt again. Later, Maddock sends KITT a copy of the prison release papers for Watts, signed by the murdered Mayor. KITT indicates it is a electronic signature. Michael has KITT print more copies, sending one with a fake signature to Daniels (using her name), and a similar one to Mayor Abbey, this time with his name. Following Abbey's limo closely under surveillance they record a conversation between the Mayor and Watts discussing the release papers. After recording enough information KITT, Shawn and Michael return to FLAG. After showing the Daniels the video of Mayor Abbey's conversation with Watts, Maddock proposes a pact with the police force. After ambushing a caravan of corrupt cops, they find no guns. KITT informs Michael there is another group of police cars is headed for the local mall. Maddock convinces Daniels to allow KITT to go after the other group alone. When they encounter a local traffic jam, KITT enters a waterway propelling on the water to the mall. Watts has begun a transaction with a gun buyer. KITT locks the doors and jams the radios of the police cars. When one of the corrupt cops guarding Watts sights Shawn moving in, he shoots her ensuing a panic of mall goers. The buyer flees. Watts also flees. Michael takes down one of the corrupt cops, and goes after Watts. Shawn, only wounded near her left shoulder (Just like Michael in the TV Series pilot) runs from the other cop. After disguising herself with a wig, she knocks out the other cop, and confiscates her handgun. Michael catches up to Watts, who has taken a mall goer hostage at gunpoint. With KITT's remote assistance Michael disarms Watts freeing the hostage. A fight ensues between Michael and Watts, Michael only stopping when Watts picks up his handgun, when Shawn arrives with the other handgun, instructing him to drop his, readying to shoot him. Michael talks Shawn down from shooting Watts. Watts then draws another gun hidden under his coat but Michael draws out a Ultrasound gun faster hitting Watts, who then fall down below do his death, landing on an escalator track. After Watts' defeat, the Mayor is incarcerated. Michael returns to retirement. KITT remains behind at the Knight Foundation with Shawn and Maddock. The trio continue their police work for the city. Cast Starring *David Hasselhoff as Michael Knight *Edward Mulhare as Devon Miles *Susan Norman as Shawn McCormick *Carmen Argenziano as Russell Maddock & the Voice of K.I.F.T. *William Daniels as the Voice of K.I.T.T./K.I.F.T Also Starring *Lou Beatty Jr. as Mayor Harold Abbey *Mitch Pileggi as Thomas J. Watts *Christine Healy as Commissioner Ruth Daniels *Eugene Clark as Officer Kurt Miller *Megan Butler as Officer Marla Hedges *John Cannon Nichols as Lieutenant Justin Strand *Francis Guinan as Dr. Jeffrey Glassman *Ellis Posey as Mayor Frank Cottam *James Doohan as Himself (Cameo) *Richard Basehart as Wilton Knight (Flashbacks) Wilton Notes *This story line is currently argued as being canon/non with the advent of the [[Knight Rider (2008 Pilot Movie)|2008-2009 Knight Rider Pilot Movie]] and the [[Knight Rider (2008 series)|2008-2009 Knight Rider Series]], which contradicts many of the events and occurrences that happened in the movie this is however down to opinion. * This, however, has not been explained in the 2008 film. While it does not mean it did not happen, it just leaves the viewers to work it out for themselves Behind the Scenes *The production was filmed in parts of San Antonio and Corpus Christi, Texas. Category:Knight Rider 2000